Last fall, David Byrne had a Broadway show. At first, it looked like one of those Broadway residencies that artists sometimes play, but it was more than a simple concert. Instead, Byrne adapted his 2018 album American Utopia into a full, elaborate career-spanning stage show. Byrne’s American Utopia extended into February of this year, and Byrne performed pieces of the show on various late-night shows, including one of the final pre-pandemic episodes of Saturday Night Live. Soon, we’ll get to see the movie version.

In February, the news came out that Spike Lee was directing a film version of Byrne’s stage show. Lee is a towering cinematic figure, and so, in his own way, is Byrne. Byrne is the figure at the center of Jonathan Demme’s 1984 Talking Heads live film Stop Making Sense, arguably the greatest concert movie ever made. Byrne hasn’t talked about American Utopia being made in the tradition of Stop Making Sense or anything, but just the idea of another movie like that existing is a reason to get up in the morning.

Lee’s film version of David Byrne’s American Utopia is coming to HBO and to the HBO Max streaming service in just a couple of months. It’ll be the second Spike Lee joint of 2020, following the messy but great Netflix movie Da 5 Bloods. Today, we get a quick one-minute teaser trailer. Check it out below.

David Byrne’s American Utopia comes to HBO 10/17.